How to assess sites using Moz DA and organic traffic properly

Estimated organic website traffic is another metric that is being abused by backlink sellers recently.

Simply because it ‘could’ equate to a website worth linking from, right?

It’s not a quantum leap to assume that estimated organic search engine traffic is a positive signal, but it needs to be used sensibly, and with other metrics (I will reveal how in this email).

Choose an Answer

Apply for free backlink

Takes less than 30 seconds

Click below

What type of business are you?

Choose an Answer

Agency

Freelance

Company marketer

My own websites

None of the above

10%

How many of your [answer:What type of business are you?] clients need links?

Choose an Answer

1-5

5-10

10-20

20+

None, I don’t have any yet

20%

How many links do you need to build per month?

Choose an Answer

1-5

5-10

10-20

20+

40%

What is a realistic monthly backlink budget for you?

Choose an Answer

$75 – $500

$500 – $1000

$1000 – $2000

$2000 – $5000

$5000 – $10,000

$10,000 +

45%

How do you currently build links?

Choose an Answer

In-house team

Agency / link building service

Freelancers overseas

None of the above

50%

How’s your link building knowledge?

Choose an Answer

Advanced / Expert

Average

Just starting out

60%

What are your go to tools for checking sites?

Choose an Answer

Moz DA

Majestic TrustFlow

Ahrefs DR

SEMRush traffic

Ahrefs Organic traffic

Others

70%

What are your biggest link building problems?

Choose an Answer

Links are too expensive

Higher quality links are hard to find

Need help from genuine experts

Don’t trust most link builders

Need faster link builders

Afraid of Google penalties

75%

What are the top 3 qualities you look for in a website when considering acquiring link from it?

Choose an Answer

Relevance to my niche

Moz DA score

Majestic Trust Flow score

Location of the site

Design and usability

Estimated search traffic

Site is visible for its keywords

75%

What sort of service appeals to you most?

Choose an Answer

Predictable numbers of links at an agreed quality level where I review and approve everything

Mostly high quality earned links using white hat tactics

Cheap links of an acceptible quality without any review process

80%

List up to 5 competing websites

Enter Your Details

90%

List up to 10 of your target keywords

Enter Your Details

90%

Your target website url for this trial

Enter Your Details

95%

Enter Your Details

I accept GDPR privacy policy

However, there are reasons to be cautious about this assumption, which I’ll also take you through one by one.

High traffic does not always = quality or suitability for placing your backlinks

Sites need to be assessed on a site and niche basis because low traffic isn’t always a deal-breaker.

A site could be receiving low traffic for a lot of reasons.

Good reasons for a site getting lower traffic estimates are:

It’s a site that is in a tiny niche with low volumes of search.

In this case, the site traffic may never grow but it may be an authority in its niche. You should look at other metrics such as Ahrefs Domain Rating and Majestic Trust Flow to assess relative authority.

It’s a new site (so maybe it has growth potential).

In this case, look at the content and quality of the design. If it is engaging readers and getting shares, then it could be a site on an upward trend.

It’s a tiny site but the content is top-notch for its niche.

As above, check out the content and look at the backlinks it’s acquiring.

This could easily be another small but authoritative site that is worth getting a link from.

A link from any of the sites described could be useful, so don’t discount without having a good look.

On the flip side, some people assume that high traffic is a winner

But this isn’t always the case.

Bad reasons for high traffic could be:

The site is in a niche with millions of long-tail keywords, so it scavenges traffic.

In this case, check the rankings of the keywords by using a tool like Ahrefs, where you can see the distribution of rankings. If they are mostly on page two and beyond, then the site isn’t an authority in its niche.

The site has masses of poor content so ranks for lots of long-tail keywords.

This could mean the site is not an authority but is so big that it is visible.

The site content has no topical focus and ranks for a ton of useless keywords.

A lot of old but poor news sites have this profile. In this case, look at the inner pages and see if they are garnering any Ahrefs UR or Moz PA – this will show you whether any link you place has any chance of being worth anything.

In most cases, you probably need to avoid these kinds of sites.

So how can you find sites that meet your needs for SEO?

Without setting a minimum of thousands of traffic and high backlink metrics (which is just making life harder for no reason).